(CNN) — The world’s nuclear watchdog has warned of the “real risk of a nuclear disaster” and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities near the Zaporizhia plant in southern Ukraine after it was hit by shelling, prompting shutdown of one of the reactors.
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, was alarmed by reports of damage and has demanded that a team of IAEA experts be urgently allowed to visit the plant, to assess and safeguard the site. .
“I am extremely concerned about yesterday’s bombing of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which highlights the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” Grossi said in a statement. statement this Saturday.
“A military action that endangers the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is completely unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs,” he added.
Kyiv accused Russian forces of stockpiling heavy weapons and launching attacks from the plant, which they seized in early March and still occupy. Moscow, for its part, claimed that Ukrainian troops are targeting the complex.
Friday’s shelling damaged a power line and forced one of the plant’s reactors to stop operating, according to Ukraine’s state nuclear power operator, Energoatom, which later said there was no damage to the reactors themselves and that the radiation situation was normal.
According to Energoatom, the attacks on the plant continued overnight on Saturday, hitting various parts of the complex and injuring a Ukrainian employee. He claimed that Russian forces and employees of Russia’s state nuclear power company Rosatom, who have been at the site since they took over the plant, took refuge in bunkers before the shelling began.
The missiles hit the site of the plant’s dry storage facility, where 174 containers with spent nuclear fuel are stored, and damaged three radiation monitoring detectors, making timely detection and response to leaks of radioactive substances ” currently impossible,” warned Energoatom.
“This time a nuclear catastrophe was miraculously averted, but miracles cannot last forever,” he added.
Although the security situation is stable and there is no immediate threat to nuclear safety, according to the IAEA, Grossi warned of the serious risk that new clashes could pose at the site.
“Any military fire directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences,” Grossi said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his late-night speech on Saturday, again accused Russia of bombing the plant and using it to sow terror in Europe.
“Unfortunately, the situation around the Zaporizhia NPP has worsened considerably,” Zelensky said. “Russian terrorists have become the first in the world to use a nuclear power plant to sow terror. The largest in Europe.”
Zelensky said this Sunday that he had spoken with the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.
CNN was unable to verify claims of damage to the plant, which occupies a sprawling piece of land. The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the bombing.
Irresponsible violation of nuclear safety regulations
The top diplomat of the European Union criticized Russia’s military activities around the Zaporizhia plant and asked the IAEA to gain access to the complex.
“This is a serious and irresponsible violation of nuclear safety standards and another example of Russia’s disregard for international norms,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on Twitter on Saturday.
Several Western and Ukrainian officials believe Russia is now using the massive nuclear facility as a bulwark to shield its troops and stage attacks, assuming Kyiv will not return fire and risk a crisis.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Moscow of using the plant to shield its forces, while the British Ministry of Defense claimed in a recent security assessment that Russia’s actions at the complex sabotage the security of its operations.
The Ukrainian mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, said in late July that Russian forces had been observed using heavy weapons near the plant because “they know very well that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not respond to these attacks, as they can damage the nuclear plant”.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned on Friday that new attacks on the plant could be disastrous.
“The possible consequences of hitting a working reactor are equivalent to using an atomic bomb,” the ministry said on Twitter.
Grossi called on all parties to “exercise the utmost restraint in the vicinity of this important nuclear facility, with its six reactors.”
“Ukrainian personnel operating the plant under Russian occupation must be able to carry out their important functions without threats or pressure that would undermine not only their own security, but also that of the facility itself,” he added.
The IAEA has been trying to coordinate a mission of safeguards experts to visit the plant since it was taken over by Russian forces.
“This mission would play a crucial role in helping to stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation there, as we have done at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and elsewhere in Ukraine in recent months,” he said.
The IAEA dispatched teams to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in late April and May to deliver equipment and conduct radiological assessments of the site, which was held by Russian forces for more than a month before they withdrew at the end of March.
CNN’s Mariya Knight, Vasco Cotovio and Tim Lister contributed to this report.